Tim Hortons puts a lid on its packaging problems
TORONTO Over the last 20 years Canadians have seen the plastic lids atop their morning coffee evolve to include closable spouts and more recyclable materials, but the tops of Tim Hortons cups haven’t changed a bit.
Even worse, they often leak — annoying the fast-food giant’s customers and its president Alex Macedo so much that he pushed the company to turn over a new leaf — literally.
Six of the brand’s locations, he said on Thursday, have begun piloting more environmentally friendly lids emblazoned with a maple leaf that have been rigorously tested by thousands of people who climbed hundreds of stairs and drove plenty of kilometres with cups in hand to design a cap that will cut down on the leaking.
“The only people who are going to be pissed off are dry cleaners and car-washing companies. They will wash fewer shirts and fewer cars.”
“Our head of marketing, who is in charge of packaging, has fallen in love with the Boston cream doughnut,” said Fulton.
“Every day I watch him as he gets his Boston creme doughnut, takes it out of the bag, looks at the doughnut and looks at the bag and the top of the Boston cream doughnut is smeared inside the bag. He is (saying) functionally this is the worst way in the world to serve someone a doughnut with a fresh topping, so packaging has to get at (the) environment, function and design.”
The Great White North Franchisee Association has publicly argued with Tim Hortons over everything from alleged misuse of a national advertising fund to cuts to employee benefits after Ontario’s minimum wage hike, but Macedo has previously vowed to patch things up. “We think it is not wise to drag the brand through the mud in the public eye because there are 1,500 families that depend on the brand to make a living,” Macedo said.